FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a pump for pumping water, and more particularly to a convenient, easy-to-use, and inexpensive pump apparatus which uses water pressure from a standard garden hose connected from a tap to the pump apparatus as the motive power to pump between seven and eleven times the volume of the water from the garden hose from a reservoir into a discharge hose which is any of several different standard sizes and which is connected to the pump apparatus.
The number of applications for small, inexpensive utility pumps is virtually endless. As a few examples of applications for such pumps, consider their applications on construction sites and other industrial uses such as draining cisterns, furnace pits, window wells, or fountains. Other applications in a domestic setting are for draining pools or pool covers, basements, aquariums, ponds, washing machines, or backed-up sinks. There are numerous other applications such as for draining boats or standing water in any other location, with the usefulness of such pumps being limited only by the imagination of the user.
Typically, such utility pumps may be powered by electricity or by small, self-contained engines. The disadvantages of pumps including self-contained engines are immediately evident. Such pumps are expensive to purchase and are heavy, with their use being limited by the toxic fumes generated to outdoor applications. Their applications are generally industrial, with their application to domestic applications being limited by their aforesaid disadvantages.
Electrical pumps on the other hand are advantageous in that they are typically relatively inexpensive, and also small in size, therefore making them both convenient and highly portable. However, it will be realized by those skilled in the art that the combination of an electrically operated device and water is a potentially dangerous situation, and at the very least a situation to be used only with great caution due to the high potential of risk for serious injury involved Indeed, this drawback may result in the domestic application being resolved by manually removing the water, rather than in the more convenient but dangerous use of such an electrically operated pump.
Such manual operation may be accomplished in either of two ways. First, a number of mechanically operated pumps are available to pump water. Secondly, bailing using a pail is a manual technique of emptying a reservoir of water which is both convenient and does not require a pump. It will, however, be realized that these techniques represent arduous manual labor, and are simply not practical if there is a considerable amount of water to be removed, as is the case with a swimming pool for example.
It is therefore the objective of the present invention to provide a pump which is operated neither by a self-contained engine nor by electricity. The pump of the present invention must be operated instead by a medium which is not as dangerous as the use of electricity, but which is yet widely available, both in domestic and in commercial applications. The use of the selected medium to power a pump must also be convenient and easy to implement, not requiring an inordinate effort to operate the pump of the present invention.
In addition, the pump of the present invention must also be highly portable, preferably being of small size and light weight to be convenient both to use and to store when it is not in use. It must be inexpensive of construction to enable it to have the broadest possible market accessible to it, and also inexpensive to use and easy to operate to enable it to fit virtually any domestic or commercial application. It must also be absolutely safe to use, and should have as removing parts as possible to have a long operating life.
It should also have the advantage of being useable with any of the several different standard sizes of discharge hose which are both available and in wide use It is an objective that the pump of the present invention operate with a one and one-quarter inch or one and one-half inch discharge hose, as well as with a standard garden hose being used as the discharge hose. Finally, it is desirable that the pump of the present invention provide all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives without resulting in any significant disadvantage.